Harper-Dorn creep in single crystals of lead, rutile and ice

Abstract

Evidence for Harper-Dom creep as a common flow process in metals, ceramics and minerals is accumulating. It is shown here that there exists a linear relationship between strain rate and stress in some early experiments on single crystals of Pb, rutile and ice. It is suggested that such a linear behaviour may be due to a dislocation process operating in Harper-Dorn creep. The magnitudes of the Peierls stress of Pb, rutile and ice vary over a wide range, and thus so do transition stresses from power-law creep to Harper-Dorn creep.